


ask me no questions

by plinys



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: 5 Times, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 17:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14815625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plinys/pseuds/plinys
Summary: “You’re telling me that it's just a coincidence that you found the exact time and place where I've been laying low?”[Or five times Ray accidentally ran into Nora across time + one time it was on purpose]





	ask me no questions

**Author's Note:**

> my work wifi blocked twitter so i got productive and wrote a fic??? 
> 
> (not beta'd)

 

1

“How did you find me?”

It's different seeing her here in front of him. He can remember the last time that he saw her. Watching as the Time Bureau agents had taken her away, their gazes lingering on each other until the very last moment when she had to be turned away.

He had believed in her then.

Just as he always had.

Which was why he had given her the Time Stone, given her a ticket out, a chance to get freedom and a fresh start.

A chance that he knew in theory that she had taken. He’d been told off when she escaped. Ava showing up on the Waverider in a fuss citing protocol and the like until finally Sara had managed to distract her.

At the time all Ray had felt was relief, that his plan had worked, that Nora was getting the fresh start she deserved.

Later came the disappointment that she didn't come to him. The worry that he might never seen her again.

A worry that is momentarily abated as he looks the woman in front of him, Nora, still seeming to be waiting expectantly for an answer.

“What,” is not the answer that she was looking for, but it's all he can manage. The shock at seeing her again when he didn't think it to be likely was almost too much to process.

“I’m not going back there,” Nora insists. “You helped me escape, you don't get to come take that back, or - or -”

“I wasn't looking for you,” Ray says, finally putting it all together.

And for a second Nora looks confused. Her brows coming together as she scrutinized him, looking for a lie in his words.

There isn't one.

He would never lie to her.

She deserves more than that.

Eventually she speaks, “You’re telling me that it's just a _coincidence_ that you found the exact time and place where I've been laying low?”

“Technically, there’s an anachronism.”

Nora seems to consider that for a moment. Eyes on him still, as if weighing the option of believing him. Before finally she lets deep breath and asks, “How big of an anachronism?”

“It was a level four, but it might be a little higher now,” he explains. “See there was this thing with this dragon and it all got a little messy after that. Last I heard it was a level eight?”

Nora rolls her eyes at that, but there’s a smile on her lips that is almost fond, and her voice isn't nearly as sarcastic as he remembers it being moments before when she says, “Of course it is, because when can the Legends actually manage to put time back properly.”

“This coming from the girl that used to break time for fun,” Ray points out.

“Maybe I’m the anachronism,” Nora replies. “Maybe I've broken it all again?”

“You're not,” he insists.

“How can you be so sure?”

“I trust you,” Ray says.

Easy and simple. Because it truly is that easy. Because he knows Nora, or at least he likes to think that he does, and he knows that whatever she's doing here in this time and place isn't to cause trouble.

Nora looks away from him, and for a second he thinks he catches the smallest hint of color high up on her cheeks.

“If you're looking for a dragon I’d check the south side of town,” Nora says eventually after a moment. “There's been unexplained fires around that part lately.”

It's helpful.

It's an offer.

It's something.

“Thank you,” he tells her.

Wishing he could say so much more than that. Wishing he could offer her a place with their team, a chance to become the woman that he knows she is more than capable of becoming.

But knowing that it isn't time for that just yet.

“Yeah, just,” Nora shakes her head a little, still not looking at him. “Just don't mention it, or that you saw me, or anything like that, I don't need the Time Bureau coming after me again.”

“Again,” he asks.

But she's already gone.

Slipped away back into crowd of people. Gone before he can insist that he would never give her up.

  
  


2

He thinks he sees her again.

Just for a second, in passing.

In the middle of a crowd celebrating the end of the war, or a superbowl victory, or the end of the world.

He isn’t certain.

Doesn’t have a chance to slow down and take a second to look.

But there’s a woman with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, a leather jacket that looks familiar, and a frown that turns into something almost like smile for a brief moment when their eyes meet.

Though he can’t be sure.

Isn’t certain that it is her at all.

Not until she appears in his dreams that same night, with the same smile that he had seen in a crowd, and eyes that feel more familiar than they probably should at this point.

  
  


3

Getting taken hostage isn’t exactly a new experience for Ray. In fact, at this point he was going to need to get a frequent kidnappees card, making the baddie of the week put a stamp down until he’d collected enough to go free just for sympathies sake.

It was a great idea in Ray’s opinion.

Something cheerful to think about to distract himself from the fact that he was very clearly next in line to be tortured for information.

Honestly, it was all sort of _the usual_ at this point.

Ray knows the drill, and he also knows that the Legends will be here soon enough to rescue him.

So really it is just a waiting game at this point.

It’s only when one of the others - one of the gathered group that had been watching - steps out of the shadows and into the light that he feels anything close to surprise. Of all the people that he had expected to see here, _she_ was not one of them.

Nora shoots him a pointed look to stay quiet and not to mention the fact that they know each other.

Not that Ray would have it was just…

She looks good.

More color in her cheeks than last time. Another leather jacket. A defensive pose. Eyes that stay firmly fixed on him even as she speaks. Insisting that she have a turn at trying to get something out of the prisoners.

There’s a nod from the man running the shower, before she moves forward coming over to where he is.

“Stop staring,” she says, under her breath.

“I wasn't,” Ray insists.

“You were,” she corrects.

He was.

He couldn't help it.

There was something about her that always drew his gaze.

“Wait, are you working with them,” his voice is quiet, such that only she can hear him, and as he speaks he casts a glance over her shoulder. At his kidnappers, a menacing lot, that was watching them with suspicious eyes.

Nora doesn’t answer him, though he feels something, a fuzzy feeling in his hands from where hers had been a moment before, lightening his restrains though not necessarily undoing them.

He’s pretty sure if he tugs on his bounds just the right amount of strength he could undo them.

Which probably is a sign that she’s not actually working for the bad guys.

Still he can't help but add, “You’re better than this, Nora, better than all of them.”

The half laugh she lets out at that carries across the room catching the attention of her… Allies? Partners?

“No, I’m really not.”

  
  


4

At this point Ray doesn't have it in him to be surprised when Gideon mentions that their next anachronism involved a younger version of their longstanding nemesis Damien Darhk.

In fact, Sara deciding to promptly take a _sick day_ and visit Ava isn't all that surprising either. Even if it means Ray is in charge of running the mission.

It goes well.

For the most part.

No major incidents.

Not until the very end, until time is fixed and back on track, and their future (or is it _past_ ) nemesis is sitting in a park with his family none the wiser.

If Ray’s gaze lingers a little too long on the toddler playing in the grass with them well then… It is not as though anyone could blame him.

Especially when he is not the only one watching.

“Do you do this often?”

Nora doesn't answer him.

Not at first.

Just turns away, looking back at the happy family not too far away. The family that had been hers what must feel like a lifetime ago now.

“If I say yes, does it make it better or worse?”

  
  


5

This wasn't according to plan.

Then again, with the Legends, nothing ever did seem to go according to plan.

At least this time he wasn't alone.

“Of all the ways to die-”

“We’re not going to die,” Ray insists. Full confident that the team would find him the second they realized he was missing.

Nora shoots him a skeptical look from the other side of the tomb that they were trapped in. Despite her discomfort, it almost looked like she belonged here. What with her beat up leather jacket and combat boots.

Like a regular adventurer.

Like someone out of a National Treasure movie.

Or Indiana Jones.

Or the Mummy.

Which given where they were might not have been the best train of thought.

A part of him wants to ask what she was even doing here. What caused their paths to cross? What had she been looking for? Was the last time he saw her the same as the last time she saw him?

He doesn't though, not certain he’ll be prepared for whatever answer she would give. If she was even inclined to give one at all.

Instead he asks, “How are you feeling?”

Nora shifts slightly, but at least doesn’t ignore his question. “A little claustrophobic.”

“Well, not to worry, the Legends should be here soon.”

Nora doesn't even bother to hide her displeasure at that prospect. “Oh joy, more people that hate me.”

“They don't hate you,” Ray insists.

“They have every reason to,” she points out.

She's not wrong. In fact, he had been careful not to mention all the times he was running into her, for fear that someone would try to turn her back into the Time Bureau, or worse… But he was sure with the right timing and a little convincing that he could get the team to understand.

And while this particular timing might be not be perfect, Ray would take what he could get.

“I don't hate you,” Ray says instead. “I couldn't possibly.”

He swears for just a second he sees a hint of a smile on her face. “Of course not.”

“And I'll protect you,” Ray insists. “In case, they try anything. Not that they will! The team is good, they wouldn’t hurt you, but you know… If anything were to happen...”

He would fight for her.

He knows that now.

Even against his own team.

Nora just shakes her head. “I'm the one with magic, shouldn't _I_ be protecting _you_?”

  
  


+1

He's late.

Late enough that he wishes he had some way to communicate with her across the expanse of time. A phone number even.

He'd blame it on the anachronism if asked. On the team that still didn't know exactly where he was sneaking off to. On the way Gideon had even seemed hesitant to give him the jumpship for this.

Part of him is certain that she’ll be gone. It was a risk even asking for this.

A moment, a place, a time - something that could be just theirs.

A plan instead of a happy coincidence.

And now he'd managed to mess that up.

The clock on the jumpship says that he's over an hour late, and Ray anxiously tries to flatten down the front of his shirt before stepping off he ship. Leaving it cloaked behind him as he makes his way to the agreed upon meeting place.

Fully expecting her to be already long gone.

But she's not...

But she's still there.

Standing on the boardwalk, watching the sunset, the wind making her dark hair flutter over her shoulder.

He takes the spot beside her, without an excuse to give, looking out at the water. It’s almost peaceful. This could almost be normal. They could almost be two ordinary people on a first date, slowly learning what it feels like to fall in love.

But they’re not.

And he wouldn’t trade what they were for anything else in the world.

“I nearly left,” she says.

He wouldn't have blamed her for it. Really what excuse did he have being late for a date when he lived on a _time ship_.

And yet…

She had stayed.

She had waited.

“Why didn't you?”

Nora shrugs, almost casual, and says, “You always have a way of finding me.”


End file.
